St. Augustine and Menendez are used to emotion engulfing their contests. But a stretch of tragedy for one side changed the tone of the match, at least in select moments, putting a Yellow Jackets 55-47 win firmly in perspective.

St. Augustine (13-10) and Menendez (14-11) share the same community. A few small, silent tributes were planned. Fans for both teams wore predominantly white shirts in memorial of Menendez students Jerad Revels and Ryan Scott Ford. Ford passed away early Saturday morning, while Revels died in a farming accident on Wednesday morning.

The Falcons themselves wore white T-shirts in warm-ups, and St. Augustine players wore ribbons on their jerseys in remembrance. Before the game, both teams stood beside each other in a moment of silence.

But a spontaneous act after the game, as players and fans joined together in one last act of public remembrance, showed the sibling rivalry for what it is — a family.

Falcons coach Steve Melgard stood along the baseline after the game, glassy-eyed and searching for words to appropriate the night’s game with the tragic week that preceded it.

“Just now, look at what these guys are doing,” Melgard said, as he watched both teams and their respective student sections meet at half court after the game. We as a group were a bit of a wreck during our pregame meal.

“I didn’t now what to say to them. I just told them that no words could bring them back, there’s nothing anyone can do in this building to change what has happened. All they needed to do was come out and represent Menendez the right way, and they absolutely did that.”

The game itself lived up to the history both teams share. The two sides seem to bring out the best in each other. Their previous meeting this season, at Menendez, ended with Louis Williams hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 45-42 Yellow Jackets victory.

After finishing the first quarter with a three-point lead, Menendez managed just four points in the rest of the half, at one point trailing St. Augustine by 10 and falling behind 27-19 entering the half.

The Falcons wouldn’t retake the lead until midway through the fourth quarter when an Anthony Gomez basket put his side ahead by a single point, though even then it was fleeting. Williams, a former Menendez student, hit a 3-pointer on the very next possession to give the Yellow Jackets the lead for good.

The score was tied twice in the fourth quarter and with less than one minute left Menendez stayed within a basket. But 5 of 6 made free throws by Lamar Berk, Jordan Boston and Deshaun Palmer in the waning moments put away the lead for good.

“I didn’t know them personally but a few guys on our team did,” Berk said, who finished with 16 points. “We knew it was going to be tough for them to get up for this game, and you saw how they came out. They gave us their all.”

St. Augustine coach Tim Winter was tasked with preparing his team against a side composed of grieving friends. While intensity from the on-court action was never lacking, the cheap fouls and pettiness that a rivalry tends to illicit were nowhere to be found.

“Before we came out I talked to the guys, reminding them that there are plenty of things in life more important than basketball,” Winter said. “It took guts to come out here and play the way Menendez did.”

Both teams move on to district play next week, as Menendez hosts the District 4-5A playoffs and St. Augustine, seeded third, travels to Atlantic Coast to play against top-seeded Wolfson.

“Our schedule was about as tough as I could have made it,” Winter said. “At 13-10, that record may not be that impressive, but with our schedule I like our chances. No doubt it’s going to be hard to move on but we believe we can make some noise.”

As for Menendez, the Falcons enter as the top seed in their district and have one more chance to represent their school, just as they did against St. Augustine.

It may be with heavy hearts, but as they proved already, they’ll have a community’s support behind them.

“I really couldn’t be more proud of the way our guys came out here tonight,” Melgard said. “They battled and battled, there’s nothing else I could ask for under these circumstances.”